Montgomery County Commissioners acknowledge a peaceable first year together

NORRISTOWN — To the day, Thursday marked the first year anniversary of the new administration of the Montgomery County Board of Commissioners.

During the commissioners’ first public business meeting of the New Year, Chairman Josh Shapiro reviewed some of the highlights of 2012 — perhaps most importantly — he noted, the starkly different and pleasantly amicable relationship each have had with one another during their first year serving together.

Calling it a year of “real reform and meaningful accomplishments,” Shapiro underscored several benchmarks where the commissioners had made change — morale, reform, fiscal responsibility and investing in the future.

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“For those of us who grew accustomed to watching county government move at a glacial pace, with little focus or direction, our pace, progress and persistence over the last year has been amazing,” he said.

In years past, under the direction of former commissioners’ chairman Jim Matthews, many constituents grew frustrated with county government that seemed plagued with discord, acrimony and animosity. A partnership that developed between Matthews — a Republican, and his then-vice chair, Joe Hoeffel — a Democrat, edged out any dissenting vote on spending, budgeting, policy and the like.

“Our toughest task and possibly the singular biggest accomplishment of this administration has been resurrecting sound budgeting procedures, and putting the county on sound fiscal footing,” said Shapiro.

“When we took office, we inherited a 2012 budget that was in a $10 million hole and was based on a number of faulty premises. The sum total of the broken fiscal foundation left us with a $49.3 million structural deficit.”

He said when he and fellow Democrat, Vice Chairwoman Leslie Richards took the reins in the beginning of 2012, they knew change would be inevitable.

Commissioner Bruce L. Castor, Jr. said the change in government processes had nothing to do with political party, but rather with a change in attitudes.

“I think that the accomplishments cited by my colleagues are a result of the attitudes that they brought to the job — to try to do the right thing, and do them for the right reasons, to benefit the people that work and live in Montgomery County,” he said.

“If we happen to be able to parlay that into publicity that’s favorable to us, then that’s a byproduct. The reverse was true previously — always how to parlay policy and comments and posturing and personal aggrandizing for political advancement.”

Richards, who Shapiro said has been very active in capital projects such as a crumbling courthouse garage, a falling façade outside One Montgomery Plaza and cracked steel beams in the Main Street Garage, also recognized Montgomery County as only one of two counties in the entire state that was willing to provide voter IDs to its citizens.

“We listened. We heard that many of our registered voters were frustrated at not being able to get valid IDs to vote. We were presented with the idea of issuing our own IDs. We were able to jump quickly into action,” she said.

Richards thanked county Chief Operating Officer Lauren Lambrugo for assessing what was needed to acquire the IDs, head of Information Technology and Solutions (ITS), Anthony Olivieri, for providing the equipment and materials and Communications Director Frank Custer for getting the word out to the public.

“I take great pride, as the chair of our Montgomery County Board of Elections, that we were leaders on this issue,” she said.

All three commissioners said they were proud of the cooperative work they had done together and look forward to 2013.